drop to 2 bottles?

[mommy2mason]

Hi all! My LO is 11 months and has really decreased his formula intake within the past week and isn't really interested in his afternoon and bedtime bottle. The past few days he's taken a total of about 12-15oz. a day. From what I read, it sounds like he should be getting more? He eats his solids pretty well but not tons and he's finally more interested in finger foods now. I wouldn't think I should decrease his solid intake since he's close to dropping all bottles and starting whole milk soon.

Do you think I should just drop the afternoon bottle and give him his 6oz. bottle in the morning and before bed? That means 12 total oz...is that ok? He also eats yogurt/cheese every day.

Thanks!
Amy

[*Natasha*]

Could you make the 2 bottles slightly larger say 7/8ozs?

[mommy2mason]

Yes, if he would drink all 6 oz. I would offer more until he wouldn't want anymore. I think I'll give it a try tomorrow. He never 'asks' for his afternoon/night bottle so I don't think going to two will be a problem.

[chrissie1982]

Hi Amy,
I'm currently going through the same thing. My lo is 11 months next week and he has stopped taking as much milk at his afternoon and bedtime bottles. He used to drink 9oz in each of his morning and and bedtime bottles and have about 7oz in the afternoon. Now he only drinks about half of his last two bottles. Today I tried him without his afternoon bottle and he didn't seem to miss it. He did drink most of his bedtime milk though. I did try to reduce his solids a bit first but that didn't help at all.

Let us know how it goes tomorrow 

Chrissie x

[em_here]

Hugs, do try two large bottles, also add in some calcium rich snacks, such as yoghurt, cheese, etc etc xxxx

[mommy2mason]

Hi Chrissie-Sounds like our LO's are doing pretty much the same thing! Well this morning he wasn't interested in his morning bottle at all...you think he'd be hungry after not eating for 14 hours! I guess maybe he's growing up a little bit and easing into a more toddler routine of eating breakfast and not needing a bottle right away. He finally drank his 6 oz. at 8:00am after I let him lay on the floor with it (Usually I hold him in my lap). I offered his afternoon bottle but he wasn't interested...drank maybe an ounce so hopefully he'll drink well for his last bottle. Tomorrow I don't think I'll even offer the afternoon bottle. At least he loves his other calcium rich snacks!

[chrissie1982]

Hi Amy,
How's everything going? Everything is going a bit funny here.

On Monday I didn't give him his afternoon bottle and he still left an oz at his last bottle. He then woke up at 4.15 the next morning  . Although I don't think it was because he is hungry - he managed to wriggle himself into a funny position in his cot which woke him up. I went in and put him back where he was supposed to be and everything went quite for about 10 minutes but then he started crying again. He had done a poop and after being changed there was no way he was going back to sleep  He still waited for his bottle until 6am though which is his normal feed time so I don't think he was hungry.

But the early wake up did mean that I chickened out of dropping the afternoon bottle yesterday. So he still had his 3 bottles but he left about 3 oz each of his last 2 bottles. And he still woke up at 5 this morning  He did start crawling properly on Monday though so I'm hoping the EW's are developmental and will stop quite soon.

I think I'm going to carry on with the 3 bottles for a little while and keep a note of how much he is drinking each day and then I'll have a think about dropping the bottle again in about a weeks time.

I hope things are going a bit better for you 

Chrissie x

[mommy2mason]

Hi Chrissie,

Well we haven't done the afternoon bottle for the past couple days and it's going fine, but he will still only eat 12oz. a day. He's not waking early hungry or anything so I don't know if this is ok or not. He just doesn't want any more. I make sure to give him yogurt and cheese every day. He's a big boy but has never been a big eater which I find strange! At his 9 month he was just about 25lbs. and I'm anxious for his 12 month in a couple weeks...I'm guessing he's got to be 30lbs!

Did you get another EW today? I think the new crawling definitely could be a culprit like you mentioned. But I think it's a good idea to stick with the 3 bottles a bit longer and keep track of how much he drinks. That's what we did because I was always thinking "what if he's hungry?" To this day he never 'asks' for a bottle or food which has always been kind of tricky.

Hope things are going well!

Amy

[chrissie1982]

Hi Amy,

Glad everything is going ok for you. Wow...30lbs  . I don't know what to suggest about his milk intake. I think 12oz is quite low but if he won't drink anymore what can you do - maybe someone else will have suggestions for how to increase this? It should be ok so long as you give him lots of other calcium rich foods - which it sounds like you are doing 

Well we had another early waking today but it was at 5.30 - he seems to be waking a bit later each day  . He normally wakes at 6am anyway so we're nearly back to normal. Yesterday he had a 9oz bottle in the morning, drank all of his afternoon bottle (8oz) as if he was starving  and then only drank about 4oz last night. This is the problem that if he drinks all of his afternoon bottle then he won't drink much at night and I would prefer him to have a big bottle at night seeing as he then has to go 12 hrs without anything. I think I might try and offer him a smaller afternoon bottle day (maybe about 5oz) and see if he will then take more tonight. But then I don't want him to be hungry this afternoon. This is all so confusing  . I know what you mean about always wondering if he is hungry.

Chrissie x

[mommy2mason]

Hi Chrissie~Well I hope the early wakings are still getting later for you! How did it go offering a smaller afternoon bottle? My LO would often not drink as much at one feeding but then made up for it in another so would usually end up with the same total ounces by the end of the day. To update, I talked to my dr. today about Mason only getting 12 oz. of formula. He said it's very normal at his age as he's eating more solids and that I could introduce whole milk. I bought some today but haven't tried it yet. I don't want to give him whole milk in his bottle as I'd rather just go right to the sippy. He loves water in his sippy so I'm really hoping he likes whole milk.


Enjoy the weekend!
Amy

[chrissie1982]

Hi Amy,

Jake is now back to his normal 6am wake up (would be nice if it was even later but he's always woken up at this time  ). He seems to be better with a slightly smaller afternoon bottle so I think I'm going to carry on with that for a while.

Glad to hear the dr thought all was ok and I think it is a good idea to have his whole milk in a sippy. Hopefully he'll like his new milk 

Hope you have a good weekend too 

Chrissie x